Overwatch Competitive Tiebreaker System will undergo another set of changes

As part of the release of Overwatch patch 1.10, Blizzard made a change in Assault and Hybrid maps to reduce and if possible, diminish draws as the Overwatch community has been complaining about it since Season1 of Competitive Play. Blizzard has succeeded in mitigating draws, but playing in maps like Hanamura and Temple of Anubis felt unfair. Therefore, the Overwatch team was flooded with complains once more which ultimately lead them to changing how the tiebreaker system works, again. (Read: Overwatch PTR patch 1.10.0 is now live, features Lucio changes and the end of draws)

Here is an example of the problem as stated by Overwatch Principal Designer, Scott Mercer in the Overwatch Forum:

"If Team A is on Hanamura defense and prevents Team B from ever gaining any capture progress, then when Team A is on offense they only need to reach 1% capture progress to win the game. This means Team B needs to always have someone contesting on the capture point, or they risk losing. Even with both teams aware of the new victory conditions and adapting appropriately, the instantaneous nature of the victory often resulted in confusion about what happened. Did the defenders not have someone on the point due to a mistake, or did the attacking Lucio pull off an amazing boop? This lack of clarity is not ideal, so we’re going to make a change in a future patch."

In order to solve this problem, the Overwatch team has decided to tweak the winning condition on Assault and Hybrid maps with the goal of reducing ties in mind. "Instead of needing to simply earn 1% more progress on an objective than the enemy team to break a tie and win, a team will also now also need to achieve a minimum of 33% progress," Mercer stated. Here are some examples on how the system works:

Team A attacks the first objective on Hanamura, but only gains 10% progress after a really rough offensive round. Team B then attacks, but they can only gain 20%. This is a TIE. Neither team achieved the minimum of 33%.

Team A attacks the first objective on Hanamura, and gains 90% progress (so close!). Team B attacks, and only gains 40% progress. Team A WINS, as they had a minimum of 33% and more progress than their opponent.

Team A attacks the second objective on Hanamura, and fully captures it with 3:00 left. Team B attacks the second objective on Hanamura, and captures it in overtime with 0:00 left. Team A now is back on the attack, trying to take the first objective. They can only reach 20% progress after their time bank of 3:00 elapses. This is a TIE. They did not meet the minimum target of 33% progress. If Team A had reached 33%, then they would have won the match.

What these change means is that draws will occur more often with this system as compared to the present one, but it will still be significantly less than the 6% draw rate before the present system is implemented. The new tiebreaker system will be coming in a future patch although Blizzard did not specify which one. Let's just hope its the next patch.

Gamehubs is a media company, magazine publisher and online portal that is built by a team of gamers for gamers. We seek to serve the “nerdy” needs of the worldwide gaming community, though with a more in-depth focus to Asian gamers. You’ll find stories related to the region, with features, interviews, and even occasional satires that define the gaming scene in Southeast Asia. Gamehubs is also available in native Thailand and Indonesia at th.gamehubs.com and id.gamehubs.com.

Beyond our online presence, Gamehubs is the official licensee of Edge Asia edition, one of the UK’s oldest and most reputable gaming magazines. This is part of our effort to be more inclusive and adaptive to the current gaming scene, especially in Southeast Asia, and we believe that there are still gamers who prefer physical mediums to enhance their knowledge of the video games industry.

Whether it’s a second opinion you’re seeking to make that purchase decision, or to engage with news of the industry’s quips and qualms in Southeast Asia, we’re more than happy to bridge that gap between you and your favourite video games.